Dance with the Devil
by Umbradominus19
Summary: Above all else, Atticus could agree that life was strange. And it just became even more peculiar when he comes to grips with the knowledge that there is an hour in between each day. However, when this knowledge alone won't satisfy him, can a deal with a dark figure make him feel whole? Or will it lead him to ruin? (OC centered retelling of Persona 3 with changes here and there)
1. Chapter 1

The moon was nearly full tonight, its beams of light shining through clouds to the bustling city below. The members of said city, Iwatodai, were going about their usual practices of nightlife. Be it students visiting the mall for something to do before their curfew, delinquents in alleyways trying to get a buzz (be it from either a can or a collision of fist on skin) or the elderly paying their respects at a shrine, Things were going along at their normal rate for the members of the city.

A handful of people (businessmen, late workers, what have you), on the other hand, were not aware of the hustle and bustle of the city. This was due to them being on the subway, on their way towards the city of interest.

One young man, however, seemed slightly out of place. This was mainly due to his young appearance, as he looked around 16 to 17.

Another feature that set him apart from the rest of the subway's crowd was what he was doing to occupy himself.

Situated on the top of his head was a pair of dark blue headphones the chrome accents. On the external side of each sound emitting disk, there lay printed on the picture of a skull. The young man was currently bobbing his head along to the music being played from the combined effort of his MP3 player and headphones, mouthing the lyrics as they went along. The music was being played so loudly that anyone within a seat's distance of the young man could hear what music was being played:

" _ **I backed my car into a cop car the other day.**_

 _ **Well he just drove off, sometimes life's okay.**_

 _ **I ran my mouth off a bit too much, oh what did I say?**_

 _ **Well you just laughed it off, it was all okay."**_

Though he was able to kill his time on the auditory side with the works of Modest Mouse at the moment, his visual receptors begged for stimulation. Craning his neck slightly to his right, he gazed deeply into his own reflection.

' _I hope this doesn't make me look narcissistic.'_ The young man thought jokingly.

What the young man saw staring back at him was a pale, angular face with deep azure eyes and messy black hair. This face was perched atop a lanky body not containing much in the form of either muscle mass or fat. This body was decorated with a dark grey hooded and zippered sweatshirt, opened to reveal a black T-Shirt with a triangle in the middle, a white line leading into it and a rainbow leading out of it (The young man couldn't help but smile at the insignia for his favorite album). The lower half of his figure boasted simple black slacks and dress shoes, nothing too fancy there.

The young man was about to go on and see what else he could view from the reflective window he was peering at, but he began to hear something being uttered from the loudspeakers of the train. Taking his headphones off quickly, the young man suddenly felt the subway come to a stop as the speakers uttered:

"We have now arrived at Iwatodai."

' _Finally.'_ The young man thought with relief. The several delays from a few subway connections back had rather gotten to him, so he just wanted to get to his destination as fast as possible.

Standing up from his seat, asking for pardon as he stepped over the business man he was seated next to, the young man slipped back on his headphones and began to exit the train, going back to listening to more of his music…

" _ **A fake Jamaican took every last dime with a scam.**_

 _ **It was worth it just to learn some slight of ha-"**_

… Or at least he would have done so, if not for his MP3 player inexplicably dying out.

Un-pocketing the device from its confines, the young man fiddle with several of the buttons before finally giving up and accepting he would just have to charge it later.

' _Strange, though… I could have sworn I charged it enough for a full day's worth of use. Eh maybe, the battery is just getting worse, who knows?'_

With that thought, the young man continued towards the subway's exit.

Finally exiting the station and getting onto ground level, the young man basked in the moonlight that was currently being emitted to the area around him. He couldn't help but notice, however, something peculiar about the moonlight.

' _Huh… why exactly is the moon's light green? Is it some sort of weather effect?'_

Shrugging it off as that, his grogginess overtaking his thought process, the young man continued on his journey towards the dorm he was searching for.

Surely enough, after around 10 or 15 minutes of walking through the eerily quiet city, he found it.

Stepping into the foyer of the building, the young man passed through a pair of double doors into what appeared to the building's lounge. It appeared comfortable enough, with soft looking chairs and couches, a TV placed in the corner of the main section, however the young man couldn't shake off an underlying sense of dread. This was mainly due to all the furniture being painted a sickly green color from the moon outside.

The young man couldn't leave too much time to dwell on that feeling, however, as his thoughts were interrupted by someone speaking.

"Oh, you're here. I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show up."

Spinning towards where the voice was emanating, the young man saw (behind the desk of the lounge) a young boy with curly dark hair in what appeared to be black and white stripped pajamas, an unsettling smile painting his lips. What the young man couldn't help but take notice of about the boy, though were his gaping, piercing blue eyes.

"Who are you?" The young man inquired.

"That isn't important right now. What is, however, is that you sign this."

Then, suddenly, the boy somehow produced a pen and a slip of paper.

Taken aback by this display, the young man slowly stepped towards the boy and the paper whilst questioning:

"What might this be?

"Oh, it's a contract. All it states is that you take full responsibility for your actions. The usual stuff." The boy said, his creepy smile not leaving his face.

Blaming his combination of grogginess and impatience for wanting to get into a bed, the young man just decided to roll with this strange situation and sign the supposed contract.

Taking a glace over the paper, pen in hand, the young man found a line at the bottom of the page meant for his signature. As such, he signed his name:

Atticus Slater.

Placing the pen down next to the contract, Atticus looked to the boy and said simply:

"There."

The boy's smile grew wider yet as he said back:

"Thank you."

"Who's there?"

Looking towards the nearby stairwell, Atticus looked up to see a girl around his age clad in a black skirt, a pink cardigan and matching heart-shaped choker, her brown hair complimenting her identically colored eyes. Something about her eyes seemed off, though. They seemed… wary.

"Oh, hi there." Atticus tried to start into friendly conversation. "I'm Atticu-"

"Don't move!"

Atticus flinched, surprised at the girl's tone. They had only just met, did he do something wrong? That, however, wasn't his main concern.

That lie with what appeared to be the gun strapped to the girl's hip.

"U-um…" Atticus dumbly stuttered out, his eyes widening at the sight of the firearm. "Hey, listen-"

Suddenly, the girl grabbed the gun and quickly removed it from its confines. In response, Atticus was about to dive over the desk he was near for cover. He as well as the girl were stopped, though, when a feminine voice rang out:

"Wait!"

Looking towards the top of the stairs, Atticus could see a figure in the shadows. She became completely visible, however, when suddenly the lights came on in the lounge.

' _Oh, so there must have been a power outage.'_ Atticus reasoned with himself.

Looking back towards the stairwell, he took a better look at the woman who was walking down it.

She had long crimson hair and matching eyes to go with it. Her gaze was a chilling mix of intelligent and authoritarian. Her white blouse greatly complimented her fair skin, as well as looked great with her black skirt and boots.

Finally making her way down the stairs, the young woman gave a quick glance of Atticus up and down before saying:

"I didn't think you would be arriving so late."

"Yeah, sorry about that, my last few subway connections were delayed." Atticus replied.

"Well, I'm just happy you arrived here safely." The girl with red hair continued.

"Who's he?" The girl in the pink cardigan asked, looking at Atticus skeptically.

"His name is Atticus Slater. He's an exchange student and will be staying with us for the time being." The redhead answered, afterwards turning back to Atticus. "Anyways, I'm Mitsuru Kirijo and this" Mitsuru gestured towards the other girl. "Is Yukari Takeba. She's a junior, just like you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Atticus said while sticking out his hand for a shake. Mitsuru obliged the handshake while Yukari said:

"Um, yeah… nice to meet you too." She finished with a small smile.

"You must be rather tired after your long trip. Follow me, I'll show you to your room." Mitsuru said whilst gesturing towards the stairs.

Atticus decided to do as Mitsuru said, partly because he was tired and wanted to finally get to sleep and partly because Mitsuru's air made him want to do it. Just before bounding up after the redhead, Yukari turned to Atticus and said:

"Well, um… goodnight."

"Goodnight." Atticus said simply, a small smile painting his face.

Following Mitsuru up the stairs, He could see the young woman in question standing next to the door at the end of the hall. Following her over to said location, Atticus gave the door a quick glance before directing his attention back towards Mitsuru.

"So, this is my room?" He asked.

"Indeed it is." Mitsuru answered. "All your belongings should be in there, but maybe try unpacking them at a later time. Tomorrow is the first day of school, so you'll be needing plenty of rest for that."

"Duly noted. Well, I think I should probably get some rest. Goodnight."

Just before Atticus was about to walk in his room, however, he was stopped by Mitsuru placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure you have many questions," She began. "And I promise that I'll answer them both as soon as possible and to the best of my ability."

Atticus wasn't necessarily certain what Mitsuru was implying, but he was too tired to care what exactly it did imply.

"It's alright. Just take your time, there's no need for you to rush anything." Atticus said politely.

Mitsuru gave a small, appreciative smile back to Atticus.

"Thank you for your understanding. Have a good night."

With that, Mitsuru headed back down the hall and down the stairs.

Stepping into his room, Atticus turned on the light to get a better view of his surroundings. It appeared to be a decently sized room, it was just that most of space was occupied by some form of box. Just the thought of having to unpack all of this sent tremors through Atticus' head. He should probably take some Aspirin before he hit the sack.

' _On the subject of medicine, that reminds me: where exactly are my meds?'_

Rummaging around the numerous boxes, Atticus finally found a small box around the size of a book labeled 'Meds'.

Opening it (which took some force as it was taped shut), Atticus revealed three pill bottles and a blue pill cutter. Laying out the bottles and the cutter on the nearby desk, he then opened each container to retrieve the prescribed amount of each medicine.

' _Lexapro, Lithium, Abilify… I pray for a day where I can stop using you. Until then, down the hatch."_

With his medication ingested, Atticus shed his shoes and jacket and plopped down onto his bed and finally let the comfort of sleep take over him…

* * *

"So… I take it he's one of… us?"

Mitsuru looked down to Yukari as she came down the stairs. She responded with:

"I think he might be, though we're still not sure. The chairman would like to run some tests on him in the following days."

"I see." Yukari began. "Hopefully the tests aren't anything drastic."

"They shouldn't be. Just some basic scans while he's sleeping."

"What're we talking about?"

Mitsuru and Yukari turned to see the double doors opening and closing, revealing a young man with silver hair wearing a red vest.

"Oh, Akihiko. You're back." Mitsuru said simply. "What we're talking about is the new exchange student and the tests we'll be running on him."

"So he's here finally?" Akihiko asked. "Took him long enough."

"Apparently he had some delays with the subway, that's why he's late." Yukari chimed.

"I see." After saying this, Akihiko gave utterance to a large yawn. "Well, I'd like to welcome him to the dorm, but it'll have to wait. I'm beat to hell. Night."

And so, Akihiko began his climb up the stairs towards his room.

With the elder student out of range of the conversation, Yukari continued on with:

"So, what makes you think he has the potential?"

"There was a… incident regarding him and his family around ten years ago when they were here on vacation. My father believes it has something to with the shadows." Mitsuru explained.

"Incident? What kind of incident?" Yukari questioned.

"His parents were killed in an accident involving a taxi they were in at the time."

Yukari flinched, shocked to hear Mitsuru talk about something like that so casually.

"Wait, really?"

In response to this, Mitsuru just slowly shook her head 'yes'.

"Wow… That must've been really hard to go through." Yukari said sadly, finding somewhat of a kindred spirit in her new dorm mate.

"Regardless, we have to make sure that he has the potential." Mitsuru began, back to business as usual. "We're needing all the assistance we can at the moment." Saying this, Mitsuru turned around and headed up the stairs.

"I guess you have a point." Said Yukari. "However, how can you and your father be so certain that he has the potential?" She called after.

Mitsuru slowly came to a stop, donning a playful smile that Yukari couldn't see.

"… I guess we'll have to wait and see, now won't we?"

* * *

 **Good morrow, People of Fanfiction! This was just a little idea I've had in my head for quite a while now, and I just wanted to see where it goes. With that said, please review and tell me what you think/what I can improve!**


	2. Chapter 2

*Knock, knock, knock*

"… Hello?"

Atticus' slumber was ended by a knock at his door and a feminine voice ringing from the other side of it.

"Just a minute." He called out to whoever was knocking.

Pulling on his shoes and his new school jacket to not look as disheveled, he quickly made his way over to his door. Opening it, it revealed Yukari, one of the girls from the other night.

"Oh, hey there." Atticus said with a small smile and as friendly of a voice as he could muster with his grogginess.

"Hey." Yukari said, apparently going through the same motions of trying be polite and combating sleepiness. "Mitsuru-senpai wanted me to show you were are school was. You ready to go?"

"Oh, yeah, just a sec." Atticus said while backtracking to his desk, picking up and draping his headphones over his neck.

"No chance in hell I'm forgetting these." He said with a small smirk.

This statement was received by Yukari with a very similar upward flick of her lips before saying:

"Are you sure they'll allow those in school?"

"Eh, I'm sure they can make exceptions of extensions of my body. Which these very much are."

Yukari gave a small chuckle. 'C'mon, let's go." She said whilst walking down the hall.

Atticus followed suit, and eventually both the students were out of the door and nearing the monorail station they needed to take to get to school.

Several minutes into their ride, both Yukari and Atticus had been in silence, very similarly to hoe their walk to the station went. Atticus didn't have a problem with them in being quiet, but Yukari must've considered it awkward as soon she started conversation with:

"So… I hear you're an exchange student. Where're you from?"

"Oh, I'm from the U.S.. San Francisco to be exact."

"I see." Yukari said with a polite smile. "Well, are you liking Japan so far?"

"I am. I've always found Japan such an interesting place with really fascinating culture. Granted, I find most cultures fascinating, but that's beside the point."

"I see. A very worldly person, are we?" Yukari inquired somewhat jokingly.

"You're not very far from the truth. When I was really little my family and I had a decent amount of money to burn, so we often went on trips around the globe."

"Aha. So, what would you say your favorite place that you visited was?"

Atticus face morphed into an even mixture of euphoria and nostalgia.

"Italy." He said.

"Oh. Really?" Yukari questioned.

"Of course. The food, the art, the music, the views, the people. It all just blends together into something magical."

"Interesting. I just might have to go there one of these days." Said Yukari, smiling at Atticus' almost childlike happiness.

"You really should at least once in your life. It's pretty pricy, though, so be warned."

"Duly noted. Oh! There's the school." Yukari said.

"Really?" Asked Atticus, peering through the window he and Yukari were standing near as the monorail came to a stop.

"Yep. Why don't we head out? You wouldn't want to be late on your first day of school, would you?"

"No, I most certainly wouldn't."

* * *

Well, the school certainly wasn't a letdown in the visual department.

With white marble columns, a shimmering exterior do to the abundance of reflective windows and cherry blossom trees lining the front walkway, Gekkoukan was most definitely a sight to see.

Yukari and Atticus walked through the main entrance of the school, standing next to the foot lockers. Seeing such a compartment was new to Atticus, and he reminded himself that he would have to get used to using it.

"Well, here we are!" Said Yukari with a smile. "You'll need to head to the faculty office since you're an exchange student." Yukari pointed down the hall to the left of her and Atticus. "It's a couple doors down that hall. I take it you won't need help finding it?"

"Nope, I'll be just fine. Hey, thank you so much for showing me the school."

"No problem."

Atticus was about to walk towards the faculty office, but was soon stopped by Yukari saying:

"Hey, before you go…" She stopped what she was about to say to look at the floor awkwardly. "… If you could keep hushed about, you know… last night, I'd really appreciate it."

Atticus connected the dots to what she was saying, mainly involving the small metallic elephant in the room that Yukari almost pulled on him last night.

"Don't worry. My lips are sealed."

Yukari smiled appreciatively at Atticus.

"Thanks."

With that, the two students set off for their separate ways.

* * *

Walking down the hall Yukari had pointed towards, Atticus came across the item of his search: A door labeled "faculty office'. Walking into said room, Atticus could see mountains of paperwork strewn over several desks. His eyes were mainly drawn to the tall woman with brown hair sifting through one of said paper mountains, however. Walking further into the office, the woman (Atticus presumed to be a teacher) looked up from her work to address him.

"Can I help you?" She asked

"Yes, hello, I'm an exchange student and I was instructed to come here when I got to the school." Atticus explained.

"Oh, I've been waiting for you." The woman said, walking towards Atticus. "Yes, I've got you're class assignment right here. I'm Ms. Toriumi, by the way."

"Atticus Slater." The young man addressed himself. "Though, considering you've been waiting for me, I take it you already knew that."

"You're very right." Ms. Toriumi said, not looking from the pile of papers she was holding. "Alright, let's see here… Ah! Here we are. You're assigned to classroom 2… A? Huh. That's strange."

"What's strange about it?" Atticus inquired.

"2-A's a senior classroom, but my file says that you're the age of a junior."

"Ah." Atticus said with a smile. "Don't worry, I can explain: Back at my old school I was put in this experimental fast track to test for higher functioning students. I did so well in the course that I was able to skip a grade."

"Oh." Ms. Toriumi said plainly. "Well, that explains it."

"So," Atticus began. "Is there any more you're needing me for, or can I head to my class?"

"I'm not needing you for anything. You may go."

"Thank you."

Atticus exited from the office, heading back to the main entrance/commons. He was about to head to 2-A when suddenly he heard a commotion brewing from the supplies stand in the middle of the room.

"C'mon, just this once? I promise I'll pay you back tomorrow!"

"Sorry, Junpei: No money, no sandwich."

Atticus looked towards the supply stand. There stood a male student and a female faculty worker arguing over what he could only assume were the two sandwiches between then. The male student (whom Atticus could only assume was the 'Junpei') wore the standard Gekkoukan High jacket over a purple dress shirt, with black slacks and dress shoes decorating the lower side of him. His face had a decent bit of stubble on his angular jaw, and he had a baseball cap placed over his dark hair.

"Isn't there any way I could just run and grab my wallet?" Junpei asked.

"You could do that, but then you'd be late for class." The faculty worker answered.

Junpei slumped over in defeat.

"I take it there's no way I can convince you otherwi-"

"How much for both the sandwiches?"

Both Junpei and the faculty worker looked to Atticus, who suddenly butt in on the conversation.

"Um, its 500 yen for each, so you do the math." Said the faculty worker.

"Okay." Atticus took out his wallet and fished out the needed currency to purchase the food and handed it over to the faculty worker. He was happy he converted his American currency into yen before he arrived at Iwatodai.

"Here you go." The woman said, handing him the two sandwiches.

"And here you go." Said Atticus, passing the sandwiches over to Junpei.

Said student looked absolutely flabbergasted at Atticus' show of kindness.

"Um… h-hey…" Junpei stuttered out.

"Don't worry about it, just… do something nice for somebody, okay?"

With that, Atticus headed off towards the nearby staircase. Not before Junpei called out, however:

"Hey man, I will! And thanks!"

* * *

And so, making his way to the second floor, Atticus found room 2-A. Sliding the door open, he could see several students chatting with friends, others writing down things in notebooks, and some just standing/sitting around. Atticus was about to look for a place to sit down, when a familiar regal voice rang out to address him.

"Ah, Slater. Are you needing something?"

Atticus looked to where the voice was emanating to see Mitsuru walking towards him.

"Nothing in particular, I'm just looking for a place to sit."

"A place to sit? Here?" Mitsuru asked, eyebrow arched.

"Well, this is the classroom I was assigned to."

Mitsuru looked surprised.

"Is that so? I could have sworn you were a junior."

"So did Mr. Toriumi, but" And then Atticus proceeded to explain to Mitsuru what he had to Ms. Toriumi.

"I see." Said Mitsuru, a smile playing at her lips. "I have to say, I'm pleased to see such initiative from you."

"Why, thank you." Atticus replied.

"Oh," Mitsuru began. "Wait here for just a moment, there's someone I want you to meet."

Mitsuru walked away towards a young man seated at his desk. He had silver hair and wore a red vest with black pants, thin leather gloves covering his hands. Mitsuru said a few words to the young man before he looked towards Atticus and walked over to him, Mitsuru at his side.

"So, I hear you're the new exchange student." The young man said with a friendly smile.

"That's correct." Atticus replied, afterwards the young man stuck his hand out in greeting.

"I'm Akihiko Sanada, I'm living in the same dorm as you and Mitsuru."

Atticus took Akihiko's hand in his, a smile on his face.

"Pleasure to meet you, Akihiko." Atticus said, at which point when he said it Akihiko chuckled slightly and said with a pat on Atticus' back:

"There's no need to be so formal, were dorm mates. I would imagine we could take a bit less regal around each other."

"Speak for yourself," Mitsuru began. "I find ones linguistics to be of the upmost importance."

"Make sure you get used to a lot of phrases like that." Akihiko said with another short laugh.

"Duly noted." Atticus said plainly.

As if the world were waiting for Atticus to say that, the school bell ringed directly afterwards.

"We had better get in our seats." Said Mitsuru. "Atticus, there's an open seat next to mine. You can use that one."

"Thank you."

Walking over and sitting in the seat specified by Mitsuru, Atticus took one last look around the classroom. All the students looked alert and at the ready. Feeling slightly intimidated by this sight, Atticus thought with a nervous internal laugh:

' _Whether it's for better or for worse… this is sure going to be one hell of a school year.'_

* * *

 **Good morrow, People of Fanfiction! Sorry that nothing too exciting happened during this chapter, but that'll most certainly change next time. With that siad, Please leave your reviews and tell me what you think/what I can improve!**


	3. Chapter 3

2 hours and 55 minutes.

That's how long Atticus had attempted to get some sleep. Key emphasis on the word 'attempted'.

Atticus craned his head from where he was lying down to glare at his multiple bottles of pills, their side-effect of a wired disposition the most likely reason he was up for so long.

' _So much for trying to get an early night's sleep. Thanks a million for this, Lexapro."_ Atticus thought with disdain.

Atticus turned his head back towards the ceiling and let out a sigh. He supposed he couldn't blame all of his sleeping problems on just his meds. His more-often-than-not negative thought process almost always had something to do with his restlessness. He didn't necessarily like to admit this, but it was true.

Be that as it may, Atticus tried to think of the positive things that had happened to him recently. He was in an interesting location he had never been to, and that location was filled with intriguing people. He especially took a shine to Mitsuru and Akihiko, The former's intelligence making him want to work harder in school (Which, while he may have scored well back home in the fast track program, he had to admit that he was more often than not a consistently lousy student.), and the latter's kindness (as Akihiko had bought him dinner in the form of a beef bowl and had also offered to start a workout regimen with him) made him feel more than welcome to the school/dorm.

Atticus peered at his clock. 11:57, it read.

' _I should probably just shut my eyes and wait until the sleep kicks in.'_ Atticus pondered.

And so, he did just that. Lying on his back and closing his eyes, he hoped and waited for the eventual slumber to finally overtake him…

* * *

*KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK*

Atticus awoke to a loud noise at the door. Apart from that, there seemed to be a commotion from down the hall. Looking around his room, he noticed the same sickly green color from the first night he had arrived. Curious from this, Atticus checked the time. That is, he would, if for some reason his clock was shut down.

' _Huh. Strange.'_

Suddenly, Yukari's voice rang from outside of the door:

"Wake up!"

Before Atticus had time to respond, Yukari continued on with:

"I'm sorry, I'm coming in!"

Standing up quickly from his bed, Atticus walked over to where Yukari was standing.

"What in the world is going on?" He asked.

"There's no time to explain, just follow me!" Yukari responded.

Atticus was confused, but he figured that asking questions would only lead to more trouble.

"O-okay?" Atticus stuttered out confusedly.

Yukari and Atticus were about to go down the hall, but Yukari stopped the later in his doorway.

"Wait, take this." She said whilst handing Atticus… what appeared to be a short sword of some sort.

"U-um…" Atticus was dumbfounded that Yukari just handed him a weapon. Let alone a weapon such as this.

"Alright, Come on!" Not wanting to waste time, Yukari grabbed hold of Atticus' arm and dragged him down the hall and stairs. Eventually, the two came to what Atticus could only assume was their desired destination: The back door to the lobby.

"Alright, we can escape through here, let's go-"

Yukari stopped short when the building was shaken by a large impact. Both Atticus and Yukari struggled to get their footing back when a beeping noise rang out between them. Yukari picked up what appeared to be a walkie-talkie.

"Takeba, do you read me!?" A voice called out from the device. It sounded like Mitsuru's.

"Y-yes, I hear you!" Yukari answered.

"Be careful, there are more than one enemy! The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko saw!"

"What!?" Yukari exclaimed, punctuated by several loud and threatening knocks at the door they were standing next to.

Turing to Atticus, panic clearly shown on her face, Yukari said:

"Quick, we need to head further up!"

And head further up they did, all the while feeling more menacing shaking from the ground below. When the two reached the fifth floor, Yukari and Atticus spotted a door.

"Okay, yeah, the roof! We should be safe there!" Yukari said.

The two stepped through the door and out into the coldness of the night. The moon was still shining bright, its putrid green color somehow managing to set the mood of the situation perfectly.

Yukari sighed deeply before saying:

"I think we're okay now."

The night, however, seemed to have more in store for Yukari and Atticus.

The ground once again shook, this time ominously close. And what appeared next… made Atticus double take.

It appeared to be some form of monster with multiple arms, each one black, slimy, and holding a menacing blade. What caught Atticus off guard most was the blue, frowning mask it donned.

Then, suddenly, it pounced. Not before Yukari said:

"Those monsters… we call them Shadows!"

Then, out of nowhere, Yukari suddenly pulled out the gun she had almost used the night Atticus arrived and pointed it… Towards her head.

"Hey, wait!" Atticus called out.

But it was too late. Yukari was about to pull the trigger. Before she could do so, though, the beast who had previously just been stating them down lunged towards Yukari with one of its blades. She didn't appear harmed, thank goodness, but she dropped the gun, it sliding over to Atticus' feet.

Then, the monster was about to Attack again, Yukari screamed, and…

Everything stopped. Literally.

Except for Atticus it seemed. To make sure that he could, he tried moving his arm back and forth. It worked. Looking around him, Atticus could survey that the 'Shadow' was about to strike him.

"Jesus Christ, that was close. What the hell is going on right now?" Atticus, confusion more than apparent in his voice.

Suddenly, Atticus heard a very sinister chuckle, followed by what he presumed to be the same person who laughed saying:

"The turning point in yours and everyone's fate, that's what is happening."

Atticus turned around to where the voice was emanating. He flinched and went back several steps once he reached his destination, seeing a man had taken the spot behind him.

He was a tall man, well over 6 feet, and handsome with slick black hair and a chiseled jaw. He was also wearing a suit with a chain hanging out of one of his coat pockets, which Atticus could only assume was a pocket watch. The most interesting thing about the man, however, was his eyes. Not only did he have a slew of black vein-like lines leading to them, but the eyes themselves were glowing pure red, lacking any form of whites or pupils. Needless to say, He intimidated Atticus.

"W-w-who are you?" Atticus questioned.

The man gave another one of his low chuckles before saying:

"I'll tell you in just a minute. Right now, we have a deal to strike!" The man said with glee.

"A-a deal? What do you mean?"

The man stepped away from Atticus, looking over the scene that had become frozen over before asking:

"Your name is Atticus Slater, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"You, my friend, have quite the year in front of you. I'm here to help you with it."

"… How so?" Asked Atticus, suddenly curious.

The man smiled.

"Before I explain, let me ask you a question: Have you been feeling unfulfilled recently?"

Atticus was taken aback at this question. Not because it didn't apply to him, on the contrary: It applied too well. Atticus looked to the ground before saying:

"More than you know."

"I doubt it." The man began. "For example, I know things have gotten to the point where, well…" The man walked over to the ledge nearest to the 'Shadow' and stood atop it.

"I imagine you fantasize about doing this quite often." He said.

And then he jumped.

"Hey!" Atticus shouted out, running over to the ledge and looking down. He wasn't anywhere to be seen, however.

"What the-"Atticus verbalized before suddenly being interrupted by the man's voice behind him.

"Am I correct, or not?"

Atticus looked behind him and saw the man standing where Atticus was.

"Okay, how in the world did you do that?" Asked Atticus, amazed and slightly terrified.

"Answer my question." The man said bluntly.

Atticus looked to the roof below him, shame filling his being.

"… Yes, what you did is accurate to how I'm feeling." He answered.

"Well, I have some good news for you: From now on it doesn't have to be like that." The man said.

"… What do you mean by that?" Atticus inquired.

"What if I told you that I have a certain set of powers that could make this year of your life the best and most fulfilling time of your life, would you believe me?"

"I…" Atticus was going to say 'no', but then he remembered that monsters called 'Shadows' exist and that the man he was talking to could possibly teleport and survive jumping off of buildings.

"I… guess I would." Atticus admitted.

The man smiled devilishly.

"Good. Then this speeds things along quite nicely. Now, for the main event: What's say you and I make a deal?"

Atticus became more curious then he had the entire night.

"What kind of deal?" He asked.

"I can offer you not only the power to combat these Shadows, which will in turn help that girl over there" The man pointed to Yukari. "As well as her associates, but I can also give you worldly skills and pleasures that are far beyond your imagination."

"Okay… what do I have to give you? And if you say my headphones or my MP3 Player, you can forget this deal!" Atticus added somewhat jokingly.

"On the contrary, I can even make it so they work during this time as a little bonus." The man offered.

"Excuse me?" Atticus looked down to his MP3 Player and saw that it was once again shut down, like the last time he saw the moon like this.

"Oh…" Atticus said.

"As for what you would need to give me in this deal, that would be…" The man stopped ominously before finishing with a shrug:

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Are you serious?"

The man smiled in as friendly of a way as he could manage whilst pointing to the 'Shadow'.

"Remember how I said my power could help you fight these things?"

"Yeah."

"Well, these Shadows are a threat to humanity. And as much of a menace as I am to humanity, I kind of need them in order to keep my livelihood. I figured you could just do most of the dirty work and I'd let you off the hook of my usual price." The man finished with a chuckle.

"I… see." Atticus said.

The mystery man proceeded to lead Atticus back toward he was standing originally and said whilst sticking out his hand:

"So, do we have a deal?"

…

…

…

… Atticus took the man's hand in his.

"We do." He said firmly

The man smiled once again.

"Excellent. Now, this is going to sound nutty, I'm sure of it, but now I need to point that gun to your head" The man pointed at Yukari's gun lying at Atticus' feet. "And pull the trigger."

Atticus was about to protest, but then he remembered Yukari doing the same thing a while ago. Maybe the man wasn't talking nonsense.

"Very well." Atticus said, picking up the gun and pointing it to his head. "Hey, by the way, I never got your name."

"Pull the trigger, and you'll find out." Said the man, dangling the carrot.

Atticus shrugged, pressed his eyes closed, and pulled the trigger.

A deafening boom rang out in the area, over the now somehow screaming Yukari and the groans of the Shadow. Atticus looked up, seeing the faint glimpse of a bright light out of the corner of his eye. What he saw certainly wasn't what he was expecting.

It wore a full body of blue and silver medieval-style armor, the helm opening to reveal the same glowing red eyes the man Atticus was conversing with had. The helm also had two pointed horns bursting through it menacingly. From its back sprouted two demonic bat-like wings, the gaps in-between the bones of the wings rose and fell ghostly faces seemingly screaming in agony. Its feet, where the boots would normally go with its armor, were instead cloven hooves cast in iron. On the chest plate of the armor in silver, surrounded by blue, was the painted skull of a goat. The last thing of note about the being was in its right hand was a large jousting lance with a point jutting out beneath it from two ends, almost as if it was a pitchfork that was trying to be.

Atticus, Yukari, Even the shadow paused to bask in the power of the being above them.

"To answer your question about who I am," Began the being in a voice identical to the man Atticus was conversing with.

" _ **I am Mephistopheles, Lord of the Damned."**_

* * *

 **Good morrow, People of Fanfiction! Sorry of this at all seemed rushed, I just wanted to get to some of the original stuff I had planned. Also, to any of you wondering why I skipped a couple days in the game: Most of what I had planned for those was just filler, and considering I take it most of you reading this have already played P3, It would most likely be redundant to you all. Anyways, please review to tell me what you think/what I can improve!**


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